Wisconsin could prove key for the Republican nominee’s hopes in November, especially with the consistent lead Obama is showing in Ohio, Virginia and Florida polls. And given recent trends in the state — including Gov. Scott Walker’s wins in both 2010 and the June recall — Romney seemed in good shape to pick up a state that until recently was solid Democratic territory. And that was before he picked Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, which helped put Romney neck-and-neck in state polls in the weeks after the selection.

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Polls in recent days have shown things moving back toward Obama, but the president’s late afternoon rain-soaked rally here was part of a stepped-up effort in the state. Obama and his super PAC allies have been trying to match Romney on the state’s airwaves and the campaign has been using volunteer reinforcements from next door in Minnesota and Illinois for phone banks, door-to-door canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts. And while this was Obama’s first trip to the state in months, Vice President Joe Biden has been on the ground here twice in recent weeks.

Speaking to a crowd the Obama campaign estimated at 18,000 in a city park overlooking Lake Michigan, the president reminded Wisconsin voters that he’s still their bratwurst-loving neighbor who longed to make the short drive to his home in Chicago. “An hour and a half—maybe a little shorter with the motorcade,” he said.

But Obama kept closely to his standard stump speech, dropping little in the way of a localized pitch beyond joking about the ribbing he’d just taken from two supporters who were joining him on stage — Green Bay Packers stars Jermichael Finley and Desmond Bishop — over their recent wins against his beloved Chicago Bears.

“It just goes to show you, we’re not as divided as some people say,” Obama told the football-partisan crowd. “We are not Bears fans first or Packers fans first. We are Americans first.”

Republicans acknowledge that Romney needs to do well in the state. But they shrug off the latest numbers that show Wisconsin slipping away, noting that those polls came after the Democratic National Convention and amid a splurge of news coverage detailing violence in the Middle East. This is still the state that was home to the 2010 electoral wave that resulted in Republicans winning the governor’s mansion, a Senate seat, two Democratic-held House districts and both chambers of the state Legislature.

Obama’s Wisconsin visit — including a stop for bratwurst and Italian sausages and a private fundraiser with another famous No. 44, former Milwaukee baseball slugger Hank Aaron — is proof to them that the president’s campaign is spooked by the closeness of their internal polls.

“He’s not here to cheer for the Brewers as they try to make the playoffs,” said Ted Kanavas, a Romney state co-chairman and former Republican state senator. “He’s here because he needs to be here.”

Wisconsin Republicans say their prospects are emboldened by a ground game — built during the 2010 mid-terms and the Walker recall — that they say rivals Obama’s. Romney’s campaign inherited some two dozen field offices and a team of volunteers and motivated local Republicans who defended the governor during the recall.

“People shouldn’t doubt our capabilities in Wisconsin by now,” said Reince Priebus, the current Republican National Committee chairman and former Wisconsin GOP chairman. “If they’re doubting us, they’ve been living under a rock for the last three years.”

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina acknowledged Saturday that the Romney field operations built during the Walker recall puts Wisconsin in a different category this cycle compared with other swing states.

• Unemployment is over 8 percent.::::: • The United States debt is $16 trillion.::::: • No budget has been passed during his term.::::: • A new entitlement passed that is now forecasted to cost more than $1.7 trillion during the next 10 years.:::::: • 46 million people are receiving food stamps.::::: • A decrease in the net worth of almost all Americans.::::: • No plan submitted to save Social Security or Medicare.::::: • 14 million people are projected to lose their employer-sponsored health care.::::: • Gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon, $1.87 4 years ago.::::: • College tuition is up over 8-10% percent in 2011.:::: • Foreign policy weak and has created a Middle East crisis and puts the United States at risk.:: • $26 billion IOU to taxpayers from General Motors, that will likely never be paid.::: • Fast and furious scandal/murder::: • Bogus Green Energy Companies - Solyandra, others robbed taxpayers of billions?:

WHAT A LOAD OF CRRRAP! DO NOT TRUST THE MEDIA! REAL POLLS ARE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. OBAMA IS TANKING. THE MEDIA IS LYING AND VOTERS ARE FED UP WITH THEM COVERING FOR THIS FAILED PRESIDENT! PEOPLE ARE NOT BUYING THE LIE. NICE TRY, LEFTIES!

WHAT A LOAD OF CRRRAP! DO NOT TRUST THE MEDIA! REAL POLLS ARE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. OBAMA IS TANKING. THE MEDIA IS LYING AND VOTERS ARE FED UP WITH THEM COVERING FOR THIS FAILED PRESIDENT! PEOPLE ARE NOT BUYING THE LIE. NICE TRY, LEFTIES! Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/s... ------------------- Such denial .... It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

WAKE UP, FOLKS. MOST POLLS ARE RIGGED BY THE LEFTIST, GEORGE SOROS MEDIA---DO NOT BELIEVE IN THEM. THE LEFT IS DESERATELY TRYING TO DISSUADE THE UNDECIDED VOTERS. DO NOT RELENT. JUST GET LOCAL AND GRAB UNDECIDED VOTERS, THE TRUTH PREVAILS AND MORE INTELLIGENT VOTERS WILL VOTE ROMNEY/.RYAN 2012!!! YES, WE CAN WIN THIS. OBAMA HAS NO ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- ALL HOT AIR. NOT BETTER OFF THAN 4 YEARS AGO.

Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin now has a slight lead over former Republican Governor Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin’s volatile U.S. Senate race.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Wisconsin Voters finds Baldwin with 49% support to Thompson’s 46%. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate in the race, and four percent (4%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)